Monday, November 28, 2011

This has taken years! Eleanor Clift made a true statement on Sunday:
Q: What irritates the media about Newt Gingrich?Newsbusters

"I think he is right about a lot of things. And I think that's even more irritating, the fact that he is right."

I haven't followed Clift's empty statements closely. But year after year Newsweek offered me their subscription almost free, but every year I wrote back that as long as they published her I found no value in reading their magazine.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

President Obama told CEOs in Hawaii that we have been lazy in attracting foreign investment. Lazy? Who is he talking about? But he hasn't been lazy about it. He has been downright hostile. He dragged his heels forever on the trade agreements with Korea and Colombia; the Republicans got it through Congress after he added lead to it.

Exhibit 1: In 2010 Japan's Toyota was humiliated over a safety issue. It wasn't enough to let the regulators deal with accusations about Toyota's brake pedals — as Ford and GM had been over comparable problems. The Obama White House had to publicly shame Toyota.

Accusations, later proven false, that Toyota brakes were faulty became a special hell for Toyota. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who had a conflict of interest as a regulator and shareholder in Toyota's U.S. competitors due to the auto bailout, encouraged Americans to "stop driving" Toyotas.

Obama's congressional allies hauled Toyota's president, Akio Toyoda, in from Tokyo for a Star Chamber hearing, compelling him to "apologize" before proving any wrongdoing. After a 10-month congressional investigation found Toyota wasn't at fault, none took back the comments or apologized

Exhibit 2: U.K. oil giant BP was put through a similar wringer after the Gulf oil spill of 2009. Instead of treating BP as a domestic company, Obama proudly announced he had his "boot on the neck" of the British company and, in a move of questionable legality, demanded $20 billion....

Exhibit 3: In 2009, Obama signed off on the Democratic Congress' special "Buy American" provisions in the $900 billion stimulus package, shutting out foreign investors for U.S. government contracts. The language was all about "patriotism," but it signaled that the U.S. wasn't welcoming foreigners.

No, Obama hasn't been lazy. He has been very active in opposing foreign companies.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Michael Moore goes around the country telling how humble he is. He is just one of us.

But now we can see photos of his 10,000 sq.ft. lake-front mansion on Torch Lake in Michigan. Google Map But it's only worth $2 or $3 million. How about his residence in Manhattan? And I have heard eye-witness reports of his private jet - not a small one.

President Obama promised over and over "if you like the healthcare plan you have, you will be able to keep it." But People are losing their employer-based healthcare plans. Already, by the thousand, in 2010 and 2011.

You promised, Mr. Obama. What happened? Obamacare passed and it is doing what it intended to do? Or is this unintended? In which case they didn't know what they were doing.

Now, Gallup reports that from the first quarter of 2010 (when Obama signed Obamacare into law) to the third quarter of this year, 2 percent of American adults lost their employer sponsored health insurance. In other words, about 4.5 million Americans lost their employer-sponsored insurance over a span of just 18 months.

Is it doing what it intended to do. Or is this an unforeseen accident?

This is not what the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had predicted would happen. Rather, the CBO had predicted that Obamacare would increase the number of people with employer-sponsored insurance by now. It had predicted that, under Obamacare, 6 million more Americans would have employer-sponsored insurance in 2011 than in 2010 (see table 4, which shows the CBO’s projected increase of 3 million under (pre-Obamacare) current law and an additional 3 million under Obamacare). So the CBO’s rosy projections for Obamacare (and even these paint a frightening picture) are already proving false.

Though the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, November 11 remained in the public imagination as the date that marked the end of the Great War. In November 1918, U.S. President Woodrow Wilsonproclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day. The day's observation included parades and public gatherings, as well as a brief pause in business activities at 11 a.m. On November 11, 1921, an unidentified American soldier killed in the war was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.; the U.S. Congress had declared the day a legal federal holiday in honor of all those who participated in the war. On the same day, unidentified soldiers were laid to rest at Westminster Abbey in London and at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Photo: Welcoming soldiers returning from World War II. From History.com

Monday, November 07, 2011

Art Laffer in the late 1970s shook up the world of tax economics and policy with his observations - that decreasing a tax rate can result in more revenue. And, more importantly, that it does so by giving earners incentive to be more active and productive. Which causes growth and many benefits. But... that is cutting the marginal rate of taxing - the amount paid on the next dollar earned. Most tax changes don't do this - child credits, green-energy credits - and do not have the beneficial effect on revenue and growth.

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Richard Epstein of NYU Law School was allowed on PBS. Oops! The semi-informed public TV watcher heard and saw a clear 7-minute explanation of the benefits of opportunity in our economy. He was asked if income inequality is bad. No, he responded:

He explained how, even though increased opportunity might allow people at the top to gain, it allows everyone to gain. And the statistics prove it.